The Guardian and its journalists have topped a list of the top 50 most influential news tweeters, according to PR agency Portland and Tweetminster, with the BBC coming in second.

The Guardian and its journalists accounted for nine of the top 20 places, but the top spot when to a Sky News journalist. While the Guardian, Telegraph, Financial Times and Independent all features prominently in this news oriented list there is one notable exception that doesn’t: The Times, which seems to suggest this list isn’t quite a far ranging as it needs to be. Read More »

The Associated Press has released new social media guidelines on how staffers should handle re-tweets (tips/guidelines from the Guardian and the BBC are also worth checking). Basically for the AP it comes down to not retweeting anything with an opinion. Doesn’t this slightly defeat the point of retweets or is that just me?

When someone says something that is interesting or controversial you want to share that with your followers. That’s the nature of social media and Twitter particularly. Read More »

BBC.com is launching three new editions of its site for Asia, India and Australia/New Zealand.

The sites are aimed at delivering localised and bespoke news coverage to audiences in those regions. Read More »

Back in May the New York Times put real people behind Twitter feed as an experiment to see what would happen. It only tried it for a while before it reverted to mostly auto tweets, which is what many news organisations do including the BBC. Until now that is.

Today the BBC is implementing a new system after auto tweeting its headlines for years it will be putting its editors behind the tweet wheel and getting them to tweet during day time hours. It makes all the difference. Read More »

Connected TVs have gained significant attention over the last year, and it’s only set to continue. The BBC launched an updated version of its iPlayer for web-connected TVs, Sony and Opera teamed up to provide web browsing capabilities on the platform and Audi launched the UK’s first web-connected TV campaign to promote its A7 Sportback range. In addition, recent research from Furturesource Consulting claims internet-connected televisions are predicted to make up 90% of the TV market in the UK by 2014.

Research from several alternative sources, including Ericsson, clearly shows a growing uptake in connected TV purchases around the world, anticipating 50bn connected devices globally by 2020. The tech-savvy consumer is again leading the way and technology itself is forcing the industry to reassess their business models as audiences migrate away from traditional channels. Read More »

The BBC has unveiled a new version of the bbc.co.uk. homepage It’s in beta, but is looking good and serves as a reminder of how much the BBC offers.

The new look now sports sliding screens, that are clearly inspired by touch screen phones and tablet computers, that sweep across the page allowing visitors to easily navigate a lot of content. Read More »

Is there maybe a little fatigue creeping into your social interactivity?  You’re not alone according to new research from Gartner, which has found that some web users are losing interest in social networking sites.

A study of 6,295 people aged between 13 and 74 by the analyst house found signs of maturity in the social media market, with some users beginning to experience ‘social media fatigue’ as they start to visit their favourite social networking sites less frequently. Read More »

Very interesting move from regional newspaper publisher Johnston Press it has hired the BBC’s former head of digital, Ashley Highfield, as its  chief executive.

Highfield is someone who has digital running all the way through his DNA and his arrival could mean a significant shake-up for the regional newspaper firm, which publishes the Scotsman, the Yorkshire Post as well as weeklies such as the Falkirk Herald. Read More »

Back in March, I wrote this piece looking at the ownership issues around Twitter profiles used for professional purposes. I noted that sensible consensus seemed to be that a personal feed (with no inclusion of a company or brand name) is owned entirely by the individual behind it, whilst a corporate feed (with no inclusion of an employee name) is owned entirely by the organisation to which it makes reference.

However, the post raised the issue of Twitter profiles that combine both employee and employer names. At the time, I mentioned that the account of the BBC’s Chief Political Correspondent, Laura Kuenssberg, was the perfect example of this – @BBCLauraK. What would happen, I asked, if she left the BBC for a rival media outlet? Would the BBC keep her Twitter account and reassign to her successor, or would she be permitted to take it with her? Read More »

BBC Breaking News: exempt from "two pairs of eyes" rule

I once claimed that all self-help books could be scrapped and replaced with a piece of paper saying ‘be sensible’. So I enjoyed the fact that the BBC’s social media guidelines have gone for a similar approach, exhorting staff members to refrain from ‘doing anything stupid’.

If you’re running any kind of a corporate account, it might well be worth checking out the BBC’s guidelines on how Twitter and Facebook feeds for programmes or genres are carried out.

Read More »